Well here we are again at the end of the 21/22 ski season. Sadly the snow has melted and the long wait begins as always.  It’s only been a week since we last skied and we miss it already!

Mammoth trip

We wrapped up the season in late May at Mammoth.  This is one of the most fun events of the year for us combining camping with our dog Sammy and skiing.  We take the trailer and camp in the forest off Mammoth Scenic Loop as close as we can get to the main lodge.  In the morning we get up early and park at the bottom of the Stump Alley Express at the Mill parking area.  They open for skiing at 7:30 AM and close at 2:00 PM so we make breakfast and get out as early as we can to get the nice firm conditions before it turns to slush after about 11AM.  They do a fantastic job farming snow and preparing the groomed runs with salt in some areas to keep the snow firm.  It really is the best late-spring skiing in North America.

 

Tahoe came back

Back in mid March when we had been experiencing the worst mid-season dry spell ever, we didn’t think Mammoth would even make it to May.  But the weather pattern changed in April and it ended up having above average snowfall and was colder than normal.  This led to the best ski days of the whole year in Tahoe.  Both Heavenly and Kirkwood stayed open late and we were able to ski about every-other day until Kirkwood closed May 1st.  By April most people hang up their skis so the slopes were wonderfully empty most of the time.  We ended up with 55 total days for me and 42 for AiRung.

In early April we even got 1 day of skiing at Sierra-at-Tahoe.  They opened for a weekend for their 75th anniversary.  The skiing was horrendous because this was literally the last 2 days of the dry streak and almost all the snow had melted, but it was good seeing our old friend.

Last minute New Mexico trip

After our trip to Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Washington in late January, we kept things going with a quick trip to New Mexico.  We had received only 1″ of fresh snow at our house from Jan 1 to Feb 15th, but New Mexico was getting some good snow.  Due to earlier canceled trips we had some airline credits to use so we booked a last-minute trip to Taos and Santa Fe.  Luck was with us and we hit Taos on a 6″ powder day, and Santa Fe was probably the most fun ski day of the whole year.  We love that place and our stay right next to the square in the town really added to the experience.

Progress was made

We were supposed to get 5 more resorts done on the east coast this year, but our trip had to be canceled when our dog got sick while we were in New Mexico.  He’s OK, but it was a long road getting him better and we had to stick around close to home.

Even with that canceled trip we still made a pretty good showing with 8 more resorts done.  We only have 12 more to do and with some luck we hope to finish up in 3-4 more years.  These are some of the hardest resorts to get to and will all require flying.

Website changes

Some major changes were made to the website.  At the request of several people I put together an overall rankings page.  I hadn’t planned to do that because every resort on our list is already a winner and rankings are VERY subjective. But the people have spoken so I took a stab at it.  Rankings always get people worked up so we will see what happens!

I also ranked resorts by each of the stats we publish: Real Vertical, Size, Actual Snowfall, Lift Pods, and Trails.

The stats table for each resort was then updated. The rankings for each stat now shows if it is above or below average.  This helps to compare whatever resort review someone is reading to every other resort objectively.

Have a good summer and see you next fall!